


Moving Forward

by Ninjaman2



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Amnesia, Angst, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Blood and Gore, Canonical Character Death, Dark, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Heavy Angst, Loss, Loss of Limbs, Loss of Parent(s), Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Psychological Trauma, Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent, Rape Aftermath, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Violence, Swearing, Trans Weiss Schnee, Wolf Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:21:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29631078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjaman2/pseuds/Ninjaman2
Summary: Inspired by RWBY 3.0 by Dishwasher1910Ruby was supposedly killed in action. Yang vanished off the face of Remnant. Blake left to be with her kind. Weiss remains, to lead an army.Jaune got his happy ending. Ren and Nora made a family. Pyrrha forged an identity separate from her fame.Two paths: happiness and sorrow.One story of death and decay.
Relationships: (Implied) Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Winter Schnee/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 26





	1. Loss

The scream which echoed over the coms was the straw which broke the camel’s back. A scream pure in agony, pain, and terror. The sound of bone, sinue, flesh and muscle ripping and snapping formed the backing track for the heart breaking song.

“Ruby…? Ruby come in?! Ruby?! RUBY?!”

The Grimm had taken her legs. Leaving her bleeding out to be its own personal plaything. It claimed three more lives before it was successfully taken down. Ruby had lived, but wouldn’t much longer. The doctors tried their best but between the bloodloss and the state of her wounds; even on life support - she’d die within a month. The shock of the pain sent her into a coma, one she remained blissfully in as the unsteady beeps of the life support machine rang out, echoing around the silent room she was kept in.

One day Yang took her, and left. Nobody stopped her. It was within her rights. They tracked the blonde as far as Patch, before her homing beacon went offline.

It’s now been three months. No word from Yang. No invite to Ruby’s funeral. Blake left. Weiss was all alone now. The members of Team RWBY with years of built up trust and love - an unbreakable will and bond; shattered by one failure, and it was Weiss who failed. She failed to keep the team together, she failed by letting Ruby go on a mission she didn’t want to. She failed, because she wasn’t there when her best friend - her only friend - died.

Winter walked casually through the sliding metal doors into the office of the High Inquisitor, Weiss Schnee. Often times she would see her buried behind mounds of paperwork or looking at a holo, sometimes just enjoying a moment of quiet with a cup of tea. Today, she was looking at a photograph. It depicted four girls, all with Beacon graduation robes, smiling and being happy. A curvy beauty with long blonde hair. A slightly less curvy but even more beautiful girl with black and red hair, the graduation cap loosely covering her pointed, furry ears. A slender female with a bow hiding her own pointed ears. And finally, a younger version of herself. Team RWBY Beacon’s best and brightest. They helped fight off a massive Grimm horde in their first year, taking out White Fang extremists and saving the lives of hundreds. From that one event they could’ve gotten work anywhere, all they needed to do was ask, and Weiss asked; landing herself a spot in the ace ops of Atlus, and Team RWBY came with her. Aboard the Edelweiss, their own personal military cruiser, they performed the duty of huntresses all over Remnant and dealt with any threat which came their way.

“You should adhere to getting in contact with them.” Advised Winter, announcing her presence, causing her younger sister to jump slightly.

“Winter… please don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“No promises~ But more importantly, it’s been nearly four months since you’ve seen any of them.”

“Yang clearly doesn’t want to see us anymore, Blake is always travelling, hard to just speak to. I don’t know what you expect me to do?”

“Be there for your friends. Yang lost her father and within less than a year her sister; she has no family left, so you should remind her that you and the rest of your team are family. Contact Menagerie, they should be able to contact Blake.”

“Ah yes, Menagerie, because they’re so friendly with Atlus right now.” Weiss sighed.

“If the council decides to lessen their rights it is not our position to question them. Besides, Faunus are a minority in Atlus, less than 500; there’s not enough of them to care.”

“I suppose…” Weiss rubbed her eyes. She hadn’t slept in a week.

She looked down at the photograph again, remembering the party afterwards. Heading to Ruby and Yang’s quaint childhood home, all of them gathered in such a small but homely space. A few times she thought that it might’ve been nice to settle down there with a certain rose red girl and start a family. But that dream died years ago, long before the girl did.

“It… would be nice to see her grave. I want a statue of her built. In a rose garden.” She said sternly, lifting her eyes up from the photograph to her sister who failed to contain her joy.

“Somewhere with a nice view?”

“Of the sunset.”

“Of course.”

She didn’t land the transport by the house, she wanted to walk there. Her boots clacked along the rough stones of the dirt path all the way into the cottage’s land. She heard a crow cry above her and couldn’t help but look up at it, seeing if she recognised its feathers. The house wasn’t like she remembered. It was covered in ivy and dust. Some of the windows were broken and it felt cold being there. Where was that wholesome warmth she was used to? Everything here was a ruin, an ancient one. All except, a lock.

She spotted it instantly by the way the metal glittered. It was new, and well kept. The lock and its attached chain were wrapped around the trap door entrance to a basement. The wooden doors were thick and bolted.

She reached into the pockets of her pencil dress and retried her skeleton key; a simple piece of Atleasian technology capable of opening pretty much any lock. Highly illegal for anyone other than the high inquisitor herself to own. However she was instead distracted by the sounds of movement. Her battle reflexes triggered and she spun on the spot to stare at the figure who had approached.

Yang.

Her hair was a ratty mess, her clothes were unchanged in the three months that had passed, except now they were threadbare and worn. She looked like she hadn’t slept since they rescued Ruby’s body.

“Yang, it’s great to see you… to be honest I was worried nobody would still be here once I saw the condition of the house.” She greeted warmly, smiling up at her old friend.

It took Yang a few minutes to reply, staring at Weiss with a mixture of horror and fear.

“Weiss… why are you here?”

“I came to see you. It’s been three months since anyone last saw you.”

“Three months…? Guess I lost track of time…”

“How was the funeral?”

“Funeral?”

“Ruby’s?” Yang flinched at the mention of the name, her eyes briefly flashing red.

“Ruby’s… funeral?” Again, her reply took a while. “Quiet.”

Weiss sighed. Grief had taken its toll on her and she’d been all alone all this time. She could only blame herself for being such a bad friend.

“Can I see her? Her grave I mean. Is she buried with her mother?”

“Yeah…”

Yang turned and started to walk towards the forest, leading Weiss along with her. Weiss held a small box. It had roses in it, from her own personal garden. Ruby turns out, had a secret passion for gardening, she used to create great flower displays for Mantle and Atlas to enjoy. Of course now most of them have withered away.

“Have you seen Qrow? How did he handle it?”

“He came to the funeral. Didn’t stay long, never does.”

“He was a good uncle, always made Ruby smile.”

“He was her dad.”

“What?”

“I found… some papers my dad left for me and Ruby… Qrow was Ruby’s dad; we aren’t siblings by blood, never were.”   
“So what? She was still your sister.”

“Yeah… Yeah she is…”

Yang led her to the cliff where Summer Rose was buried. It makes sense now, keeping her mother’s name, Qrow’s intense presence in her life. Perhaps he was scared of his semblance and didn’t want to be around a fragile child. The gravestone only read Summer Rose, no mention of Ruby. Next to it was Taiyang’s grave. Weiss opened her mouth but Yang interrupted.

“I didn’t get a gravestone…”

“Why not?”

“Because she isn’t dead.” She clenched her fists, both metal and flesh. Weiss rested a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Loss is regrettable but it’s better for them and us to move on. Yang, come back to Atlas with me, move on from the loss and pain, I promise to protect you-”

“I DON’T NEED PROTECTION. I NEED YOU TO LEAVE!”

“W-What?” Weiss stammered, shocked by the sudden outburst. 

Yang turned on her, her hair glowing, her eyes red.

“Who sent her on that mission? Who sent her alone? You! You did Weiss! You did this to her!!” She screamed, her voice carrying for miles.

“I didn’t know what we were dealing with… it was a scouting mission… what happened was regrettable but…”

“YOU DON’T CARE DO YOU?! YOU NEVER CARED! ONLY I CARE! ONLY I CAN PROTECT HER! I’LL PROTECT HER, I’LL KEEP HER SAFE FROM YOU!” She lifted her arms and pointed her gauntlets at Weiss.

Weiss raised her arms in surrender, and laid the roses across the graves, before returning to the cottage and back along the path she took her.

*

The ship departed into the night sky, but Weiss was not aboard it. She waited until the deep black of midnight before returning to the cottage, skeleton key in hand. It bothered her too much, the specific wording of Yang, the well kept and freshly used lock. She slipped it into the lock and watched as it systematically loosened and opened it. Slowly and methodically she lifted the chains from the trapdoor and placed them onto the dirt gently, she had to avoid making too much noise, Yang was always a light sleeper, and she might not even be asleep. Lifting the wooden lid, she slowly slipped down down the stone stairs into the darkness within. The basement had an absolutely rancid smell, it stunk of rotten meat, feces, and sick.

The air was freezing and foul. Her skin crawled as she did, sneaking through the darkness, reaching into a pouch on her belt for some fire Dust; to use the red glow as a light source. What died down here?

She could of course guess, but she didn’t want to, Yang wouldn’t do that to her own sister.

“Yang…?” A voice called out weakly.

Her heart stopped. She knew that voice.

She heard the squeaking of wheels and someone approached in a wheelchair. She was filthy, unknown substances caked her skin, her hair was long, reaching all the way to her chest now. Her silver eyes dulled. The hospital gown half hung off her body, her one curvy and muscular form now diminished to a withering husk. Her legs wrapped in bloodstained and blackened bandages, the bits of exposed flesh were green and leaked puss; horrifically infected.

“Y-You’re not Yang! Who are you?!” She asked fearfully.

It was her.

Ruby Rose.


	2. Grimm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters will go out weekly, but I wanted to upload another chapter just to explain the AU a bit more. See end notes for spoiler-less details on the AU

She rolled her wheels backwards and moved into the darkness, trembling in fear. The stench of the room seemed mostly to be coming from Ruby herself.

“Y-You’re not Yang! Who are you?!” She asked fearfully.

Weiss didn’t know what to say. It was her, it was so obviously her. The leg wounds, the silver eyes, the pointed wolf’s ears and fluffy (well now ratty) wolf’s tail. She’d recognise that look anywhere, only one idiot in her life wore it.

“Ruby… you’re… a… alive?!”

“How do you know my name?”

“Ruby… it's me… Weiss… you remember me, don’t you?”

“No! Go away!”

“Ruby… we’re best friends, from Beacon. Me, you, Yang, Blake. Team RWBY.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the photograph from graduation day. Even if she couldn’t recognise herself in it, she would recognise Yang.

Her silver eyes widened as she looked it over, drinking in every detail, spinning it over in her hands trying to find more.

“How long have you been down here?”

“Since I woke up… Yang says it's dangerous out there, she told me I have to remain here for my own safety.”

“You’ve… been here the whole time? You’ve never gone outside?”

“No… Yang says there’s monsters out there, but she’s strong enough to fight them.”

There was a cold crushing feeling weighing down on her.

She looked around the space, there wasn’t much. A small kitchen area, plant pots full of dead flowers, a mattress with no blankets, and a heavily locked door.

“Where’s Yang? Is she okay?”

“Yang’s…” Well, no, Weiss didn’t know the answer to that question. Keeping her own sister locked away down her, the way she was acting… Yang was anything but okay. Her eyes drifted to her legs again, the molding mess of bandages, she needed medical attention; but clearly Yang was too afraid of her getting hurt again that she won’t let anyone see Ruby. “She’s fine. She’s asked me to take you somewhere, a little trip.” She crouched and smiled motherly at the frightened girl.

“A trip?”

“Yes, to my home, it's a big city which floats in the sky. Away from all the monsters.” She spoke to her like she would an infant. Which to be fair, could be an accurate statement on the mental condition of her friend.

She remembered when she first entered the coma, she had a brainscan. This revealed that Ruby’s brain was vastly underdeveloped in areas. Which explained her often childlike nature and her struggle sometimes to differentiate reality from imagination. It helped in training sure, but sometimes on the field she’d need someone with her, her anchor; they were called.

“Is Yang coming?”

“... She will be, just not initially.” Weiss couldn’t just leave her here. It's true, Yang would be coming, likely to stand trial and receive a psychiatric analysis. The feeling of her skin crawling only grew with each second she remained in the darkness. “Pack your things.”

Weiss climbed back outside, put some distance between her and the cottage, and vomited. It was a pleasurable feeling, letting the burning and bubbling mess vacate her system. Her throat ached, but she could handle it now. She felt something dripping down her cheek. She had been crying. When was the last time she cried? Three months ago?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her communicator.

“I need two transports here immediately, and bring troops, I have a situation. Alert Jaune.” 

She returned to the basement and saw Ruby gathering things into a bag. From a stuffed bear to scraps of metal she seemed to be tinkering with. Even with no memories, scraps of her lovable personality shined through. Weiss took another look at the silver eyes girl, specifically her eyes. They weren’t as bright, no, dull even. This was an uncomfortable idea, as her silver eyes were, well silver. Metallic, shiny, they glowed sometimes, and they even froze an army of Grimm. Why were they clouded over. She walked over to the metal door and peered through the glass on it. She could see something within, slumped over, rocking softly back and forth. All black, except for what seemed to be a white mask. Was it a-

“YOU!” Yang snarled before sending a punch to Weiss’s face which knocked her to the ground. Weiss, jumped back to her feet and drew her blade. “GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Her voice echoed now, almost seemingly reverberation around the entire room, and from within the sealed room. 

“No. Why have you kept her down here, look at her, she’s sick!”

“SHE’S SAFE!” Snapped Yang, her hair illuminating the awful state of the room, and the wheelchair bound girl. There was no bathroom or toilet in sight. The stench made sense now.

“SHE’S IN A WORSE STATE THAN SHE WAS WHEN SHE LOST HER LEGS! HOW IS SHE SAFE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER!?” Weiss roared, pointing her blade murderously at her former teammate.

“What I had to, to keep her safe.”   
“What’s in the room?”   
“You don’t want to open it.”

“What’s in the room?”

“She kept wanting to leave. She wouldn’t listen. It made her listen.”

“Yang Xiao Long, what is in the fucking room?!” 

“It feeds on emotions, and strengthens them. She’s scared of me, of the outside world. It makes her want to never leave.”

“You didn’t…” 

In a split second, she slashed at the door, the fire Dust crystal slipping into her blade causing it to melt the door. With it opened and the light of her flaming blade, she saw it. The Grimm Yang kept as a pet.

“You kept a Grimm down here to keep her prisoner. You’re a fucking idiot!!! GRIMM ONLY ATTRACT MORE GRIMM; YOU WERE GOING TO EVENTUALLY PUT HER AT MORE RISK. AND!!! IT FEEDS ON EMOTIONS, YOURS TOO!!!” She screamed, feeling vomit rise into her throat again.

Weiss rushed into the room, Yang reached for her with a gauntlet but it was too late, the blade cut through the head of the Grimm, and it faded into ash.

Slowly as the ash faded to nothingness, the grey of Ruby’s eyes increased to silver and returned to their perfect way. Even Yang’s eyes seemed to light up more. She stepped out of the room and pointed her sword at Yang.

“Sand down, I’m taking you and Ruby back to Atlus with me.”

Yang’s fists trembled, and she launched herself onto Weiss, tackling her to the ground and sending her fists directly into her face, slamming down on her, the first impact breaking her nose, blood poured down her face as she struggled to escape the grip of the brawler. 

“I’LL DIE BEFORE I LET ANYONE TAKE HER FROM ME! YOU’LL DIE TOO!” She gripped her hands around Weiss’s throat and began to squeeze. Tears streaming down the psychotic blonde’s face as she attempted to murder her close friend.

There was a flash of red and Weiss hit the ground hard, rolling across the grass until she hit a rock with a heavy thump.

Groaning in pain she dragged herself to her feet and looked about, spotting Ruby hitting the ground as well. The legless girl groaning in pain. Weiss rushed over and sat her up against the rock.

“You… You used your semblance to save me?!”

“I… I… remember… you…” She fainted, draining her aura completely with one burst.

The two transports descended around them protectively and a stretcher was brought to load Ruby onto the transport. The troops rushed over to the house alongside Weiss to apprehend Yang; but there was no sign of her. No bike, no trace, nothing. She was gone. Weiss slumped against a wall and sighed, she didn’t have a clue what was going on. She gripped her nose tightly in an attempt to slow the bleeding and dragged herself back to the transports.

*

Blake stood on the edge of the cliffs, the waves crashing against the rocks was soothing to her, no matter how violent they were.

She looked at the long black Katana in her hands and sighed, letting her black hair fall from its ponytail. She remembered an excited wolf giving her this blade one birthday, telling her the months of labour she put into it. That wolf had died, on the orders of the same woman who was enforcing human rights violations onto her kind, the faunus. Well she’s had enough. She left team RWBY before Ruby died, because she couldn’t handle Atlas anymore, she’d asked Ruby to come, but Weiss had told her ‘that her family was here.’ Yeah, the family that killed her. Family which didn’t even invite her to the funeral. Family which barely let her see her comatose childhood friend.

Maybe Weiss was fine, and all for Faunus rights, but the rest of the Atlas hierarchy wasn’t. They hated her kind simply for existing. Faunus safe areas were rapidly depleting. The time of the white fang had ended. Maybe it was time for a new group to liberate their land… maybe Adam was right? She sighed and looked at the Katana again, it was black and yet - she wanted nothing more than to call it the Rose Katana. The Black Rose Katana.

The Black Rose Liberation Army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this AU starts from Volume 3, instead of Beacon being destroyed, Pyrrha dying, and all the bad stuff happening. Ruby unlocks her silver eyes earlier and freezes like half the army and repels Cinder, saving Pyrrha. There is no Salem in this AU. From there RWBY and JNPR continue through beacon and graduate. This story takes place 16 years after they graduate, 19 years after Volume 3. Adam is dead, Blake and Yang still get to kill him, just in a different situation.
> 
> Cinder is still alive.  
> Ruby and Summer are Wolf Faunus  
> Qrow is Ruby's father  
> Pyrrha lives  
> Ozpin lives  
> There is no Salem


	3. JNPR

There was an invasion of Grimm. Hundreds of them. So they took up the front lines. Just a bunch of kids. And yet, they were the best defence the Kingdom of Vale had.

Pyrrha took her place to become the Fall Maiden but in the end it was never needed. Ruby snapped and in an instant of pure panic, she froze a massive Grimm horde, before losing consciousness; giving all that she had.

This spurred each and every huntress and huntsman in Beacon to fight back and repel the invading force, and in the end; they won.

The train rocked as it sped along the suspended tracks. Jaune had to hold in a sigh as the red haired girl in front of him wobbled and struggled to maintain her balance.

“Just… hold onto the handles sweetie. I don’t want you getting hurt on your first day.”

“Don’t worry dad! A huntress is able to do anything she- woah!” The train rocked again, causing her to fall straight onto the floor.

Jaune chuckled and helped her to her feet. He sure hoped he wasn’t as dorky as she was. Honestly, she reminded him a lot of her aunt Ruby. Ivetta Arc, daughter of Jaune and Pyrrha arc; two of the most famous Hunters in the world, and the only two active members of team JNPR left.

Nora and Ren had retired after five years of being huntsmen, it took Nora that long just to get Ren to admit he loved her. They settled down in a small nowhere village in Mistral. Honestly, he assumed Nora would get bored of the quiet life, but no, she seemed more than happy to be a housewife - so long as it was Ren she was with. Though to be fair, they were both stay at home parents. They had twins, two girls. They named one Ruby because Nora lost a bet to the silver eyed girl, and the other Shion after their hometown.

He looked up at the impressive Atlas academy. He’d always wanted to attend it himself after Beacon, hoping it’d finally shape him up into being a true warrior; luckily his wife did that for him.

“Dad, promise you’ll visit a lot?” Ivetta asked, holding his hand tightly and now reluctant to go.

He ruffled her messy orange hair and smiled.

“As often as I can, and I’ll try to get your mother to visit too. But hey, I work here so you might end up on mission with me someday!”

He chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug, his baby girl, all grown up.

They had her the year after they left Beacon. Pyrrha asked him to marry her not long after she was born. Now a girl of 16 and ready to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Huntsmen that were her family.

After a lot of hugging, and crying, and more hugging… and more crying, he finally waved her off and departed to his business.

Jaune was in his official uniform, black and gold dress shoes with a slight heel to them, white pants, combat belt with the Arc family sigil emblazoned upon it. Black shirt, red tie, white waistcoat. Black jacket with heavy duty black combat gloves, metal knuckles. The interior of the jacket was a deep red, same as the interior of his pants and waistcoat. Over his back was slung a long metal rectangle, which looked vaguely like a suitcase; this held his sword and shield.

Slowly, he made his way up to the higher levels of the Altas Military compound, waving at a few familiar faces. He had been called in at special request from High Inquisitor Weiss Schnee, that didn’t happen often; the last time it happened was when Ruby lost her legs…

He didn’t go, he couldn’t, not while he was so entrenched in his mission. He hoped she was doing better and she was still there, he had so many stories and cool fights to tell her about.

“Jaune?” A kind voice asked, he turned to see them.

Nora was dressed in a long cream coloured turtleneck which flowed down below her hips. Underneath the dress like sweater is a long white skirt which reached the floor. Upon her shoulders was sat a girl with black hair put into twintails. Standing next to her was a man wearing a white turtleneck under a jacket, and plain black pants. He had a girl with red hair in his arms.

“Nora? Ren?!” He gasped and rushed over to them. “Gosh it’s been ages look at you two!”

Ren’s hair was ridiculously long now, reaching down his back, whilst Nora’s remained short and well styled; an arched flick of hair covering the left side of her face slightly.

“Hello Jaune.”

“Well how are you little man? You look all kinds of fancy now!” Nora beamed poking his suit.

“Well some of us, actually work for a living.”

“Imagine being rich enough to never have to lift a finger and still be working.”

“Honestly Ren, it baffles me how you’re able to stay sane and managed to make an honest woman out of her.”   
“My abilities often impress the weak of mind.” Ren chuckled.

The years and love they shared had softened up the stoic warrior, displaying a more human like nature to him. Jaune couldn’t help but smile.

  
  


“We’re retiring.” Ren said plainly one day as they sat in a cafe in Vale.

“What?” Pyrrha looked up at the two of them in shock. “But you’ve barely been a licensed huntsman!”

“We know but… it's not like we’ll lose our license, we just… well…” Nora blushed. “We’re getting married!” She beamed excitedly and showed off her ring to the other two members of their team.

“Wait- REN ASKED YOU?!” Jaune gasped in shock before bursting out laughing.

The stoic huntsman blushed and turned invisible.

“Oh no you don’t!” Nora grabbed his ear. “Yeah well… smashing monsters is fun and we might come back to it, but for now I kinda just want to live, you know? We’ve been tracking Cinder for five years now, without a sign. I think it’s time we gave up.”

“It’s a fair assumption, but we don’t get to decide this.” Pyrrha sighed. “I’d love to stay at home and raise Ivetta, but times are changing and we’re so busy.”

“Good think Jaune’s a stay at home mom.” Nora giggled.

“H-Hey!”

“Well I think you’re a great stay at home mom!” Pyrrha giggled as well causing an intense heat to rise in his face.

Now both of the men at the table were highly embarrassed.

“So why are you both here?” Jaune asked.

“Well we got a call from Weiss telling us it was extremely important that we got here asap. We debated if we should bring the kids or not, but worse comes to worse we can get someone to mind them.” 

“You got called up too? Hmm…” Jaune narrowed his eyes. “All we’re missing then is-”

“Me?” He turned to see his amazonian wife running towards them.

Pyrrha Arc was a prodigal child huntress, amazingly skilled and extremely powerful. But as her other classmate’s shined, she fell into the background and free from her fame she was able to do whatever she wanted, become who she wanted. In the end she couldn’t escape the huntsman calling, but she’s far happier now than she used to be.

“PYRRHA!” Jaune gasped and he sprinted over to hug his wife. It had been months since he’d seen her. Jaune and Pyrrha’s style meant they dealt with Grimm less, and more internal threats, implanting themselves into organisations and places of interest to pick away at the seams. Sometimes they were put together, other times not.

“Hey~” She cooed softly and kissed him deeply, holding his head between her hands and pressing her body to his, trying to maintain as much contact as possible.

The transport took them up to the Edelweiss quickly, everything seemed a bit frantic. When they disembarked aboard the massive hanger of the floating monstrosity, they saw General Ironwood standing and waiting for them, his brow furrowed, his gaze steelie. 

“General Ironwood? It must be something for you to be called in.” Jaune noted, shaking hands with the general.

“Just call me James, Jaune, you’ve earned it by now. But yes, we do have a situation; but not one which currently needs your skill set, just your presence. We found a person of interest.”

“You have?”

“Yes, however our situation with her isn’t ideal, we were hoping that one of you might be able to help.”

“We’ll help however we can.” Pyrrha nodded.

They moved through the wide open space of the main hanger, guards and huntsmen alive moving around in a hurry as some great panic had broken out. Jaune glanced around at the Atlas military tech in place; he worried for the fool interested in fighting such a threat as the Edelweiss. JNPR was never actually stationed on the Edelweiss, being infiltration operatives mostly and having their main mission the tracking of Cinder Fall, they never spent much time up here; honestly it was Pyrrha that reported to Weiss, Jaune himself had never seen the interior in person.

“What’s going on?” Nora asked, glancing at all the heavily armed guards rushing around, their armour thick and their weapons advanced. She’d never seen weapons this advanced, though to be fair it was, strange being in such a militarized place after so many years in their quiet village. She found herself unable to move as she saw the guns of one of the mechs. Her arms trembled, she felt something rising rapidly into her mouth, before a gentle hand held hers.

“Nora? Should we leave? Jaune and Pyrrha can handle it…”

She swallowed and gripped his hand tightly.

“I-”

“Is something the matter?” Ironwood asked, turning to face the two ex-huntsmen with a raised eyebrow.

“N-No it’s fine…”

“I get it.” Jaune sighed. “Just shocked at seeing all the weapons. Honestly I get the same thing every time I come to Atlas.”

“Y-Yeah…” Nora whimpered.

“Well, there’s no harm in being prepared. Cinder is still out there, and as she can control the Grimm with her maiden powers, it makes her the most dangerous threat. Speaking of Maiden powers, Pyrrha, have you located the Spring Maiden?”

“No, not in the slightest. I learnt her name last year but since then there’s nothing.”

Ironwood sighed.

“We can only assume that Cinder already has her…”

“Don’t lose hope General. I’m sure she’s just in hiding. That or she’s changed her name.”

“Fuck!” Pyrrha swore angrily.

“PYRRHA!” Jaune gasped.

“Sorry!!!” She blushed. “I just… that never even crossed my mind. She could’ve changed her appearance too…”

Ironwood chuckled. “Moments like this just remind me of how young you all are. Makes me miss the days of RWBY and JNPR fighting the armies of Grimm alongside my best men and women. But now isn’t the time for reminiscing. Nora, Ren, are you ready to continue?”

“Y-Yeah… I am…”   
“Nora?”

“I am.”

He led them into the central command station and then down the lift into the deep hull of the Edelweiss, the most heavily guarded parts, live and robotic sentries protected this area with a shoot on sight mentality. He led them down, down past the main generator, mechanics seemed to be doing repairs on it, and off towards the medbay. There was significant commotion there, doctors and other medical staff rushing about in a daze and panic.

However before Jaune could ask about it, they veered off on a sharp right turn to the lock-up. Cells, both metal and energy, holding a total of fifty prisoners - apprehended by the onboard huntsman teams and ready to be transferred to the prisons and courts of Atlas and Mantle. Further in was the deep lock-up. This held the criminals who would never be seeing the light of day. There were less prisoners, a total of four. These were deemed the most deadly people on Remnant, and they didn’t hide it -especially not the scorpion faunus chained to the wall of his cell in a straight jacket. The last cell in the room had a woman in it. She was short with a white and black dress on. Metal high heels which stretched up to her thighs with black leather, a black mourning veil covered her face and a wide brimmed white sun hat rested over her head. Neither of which concealed her identity. The pink and brown hair and eye explained all. Neapolitan.

“We found her at last, three days ago. All attempts to get her to cooperate have failed thus far, but she is our link to Cinder, she was there at Beacon!”

Nora sighed.

“She’s a mute. It’s probably why she hasn’t been cooperating. Either she doesn’t know, or what you’ve been offering her isn’t of equal value to what she deems her help as. It’s how these things work Irondaddy.”   
“Don’t call me that. But at the very least she might know something!”

“We’ll try General, but please do not expect results.” Warned Pyrrha.

“Ah, I thought I heard the General.” A voice greeted, they turned to see the high inquisitor herself, Weiss approaching.

“Jaune, brilliant, you’re here. I need you.”

“Several years too late, ice queen~” He chuckled.

“Can it, vomit boy. This is serious. It’s Ruby, she’s alive.”

“...She was dead?!”

  
  


The steady beep of the life support machine caused his own heart to beep. The wolf faunus had every conceivable wire and fluid pipe attached to her. Giving her blood, nutrients, anything which might save her life. Meanwhile doctors carefully unwrapped her legs, exposing bone and the putrid mess of infected and rotten meat and flesh. Weiss winced and Jaune gagged.

“What happened to her?” He said, almost a whisper, looking at the shrivelled up corpse that used to be his best friend.

“Yang… she… she went insane; provoked by a Grimm's effects. They think, due to the infection, they’ll have to amputate what’s left of her legs, completely. As of right now, I currently have the best scientists in Atlas designing new legs for her.”

“So she’ll be okay? Right?”

“Unlikely…” Weiss swallowed and slammed her fist into the wall. “Apart from the therapy needed to help her learn to walk all over again, to recover from all the surgeries, and from what Yang did to her… she has no memories. She said she remembers my face and name but… that’s it.”

“Amnesia?”

“Likely brought on by the trauma… or the Grimm fed on her memories, and emotions. It’s why I wanted you here, you and her had a special bond, it might jog her memories. And… I’ve had Doctor Pietro Polendina build a companion for her, one which she might recognise.”

“That Robot Girl that Ruby liked?”

“Yes, Penny. It’ll take a few months, he believes, but with the funding I’m dumping on him. He’ll make her better than ever before. We’ll… make Ruby better than before.”   
“Don’t you dare. Don’t change anything. She was perfect, and ask her first if she even wants legs. She might be more comfortable in a wheelchair now.”

Weiss sighed and nodded. “I know… I know… We’ll be moving her to a surface location, isolated and highly equipped, there she’ll be brought back to us.”   
“Isolated? That’s a mistake.”

“How do you find?”   
“Gods do you even know the first thing about her?”

“Excuse me?”   
“The super speed wolf girl with ADHD? She loves to run, to move, to speak, and to befriend as many people as possible. Don’t shut her away.”

“... In case you haven’t noticed, she no longer has legs. Moving and running isn’t something she can do for a while and besides, a faunus who can’t run away; she’ll be a target.”

“Weiss?”

“...”

“Have things really gotten that bad here?”

“Yes… we’re finding more faunus dead every day. In their own homes now.”

“Then isolated or not, she’s not safe in the kingdom!”

“Jaune I brought you here to be a friendly face to her, not for your opinion.”

“Right. Now I remember why I don’t work for you.” He grit his teeth. His relationship with Weiss had become incredibly strained following her accession to High Inquisitor to the Atlas Military. She has more power than Ironwood, even if her rank is beneath him. On her order she could conquer the other kingdoms, she could eliminate whomever she didn’t like, and she enjoyed this power. If he knew one thing, it's that power corrupts. He didn’t get to his status from power or skill or birthright - effort got his name in lights.

“What does that mean?”

“The same thing I said when I turned down your offer to work here. I’m not a weapon, I’m a person. I’m not a number, I’m an Arc. I get the feeling you don’t want Ruby back, you want her eyes back.”

“War is coming Jaune, we can all feel it.” She said coldly, her gloved hands tightening on the railing. “Dread it. Run from it. Ignore it. Regardless, we’ll all be soldiers or survivors some day soon.”

“Not her. Not Ruby. Let her live.”

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have changed my mind on one part of the AU  
> Salem.
> 
> She does exist in this AU however I will be portraying her completely differently from immortal witch lady.


	4. Rose Petals

“And in recent news, another dust refinery was savagely attacked by the so-called ‘Black Rose Liberation army’. Does the vulgarity of those flea ridden animals know no bounds? The jobs of honest and hardworking humans ruined! Some of their own kind worked there, why ruin their lives too. Here with me today is a key figure in the fight against the terrorism of these creature-”

The television switched off.

“Fuck…” Qrow growled, sliding a hand down his face and groaning about the throbbing headache he had. He glanced at his Scroll; 72 missed calls from Weiss Schnee. The hell could she want. He checked his messages.

[Qrow!!!]

[We found her!]

[Ruby]

[She’s alive!!!]

She sat looking out of the window at the flowers, the colours were so pretty. She felt her black hair and brought it closer to her weak eyes, there was red in it, just like the flowers. How nice. The door slid open and Ruby turned to see Weiss and another man walk in. He looked very dishevelled and panicked, and he lurched when he saw her, only to be held back by Weiss.

“She’s highly unstable at the moment, let her adjust to your presence first.”

He nodded, and upon being released, slowly made his way over to her, and kneeled in front of her wheelchair.

“Hey Kiddo. Do you remember me?”   
“N-No… sorry… I only remember Weiss…”

“That’s… that’s okay… I… I’m Qrow.”

“Crow?”

“With a Q, Qrow.”

“That’s… a strange way of spelling Crow…”

“My mother was illiterate.”

“Speaking of parents… tell her.”

“I… no… its too early she-”

“Qrow, do it, or I will.”

“Fine- Fine, cool your jets Ice Queen. Ruby, kiddo. I’m a huntsmen; just like you once were, but I’m also… your uncle.”

Weiss gave him a look.

‘Tell her!’

‘You’ve seen how fragile she is, I don’t want to overwhelm her, plus I don’t know if I’m ready be her father yet.’

Ruby beamed, her tail began to wag adorably.

“Family?!”

“Yep that’s right, one big happy family. I’m going to be helping to look after you, get you back on your fe- oh… poor taste?”

“VERY.” Weiss said, through clenched teeth.”

He chuckled, if he’d managed to piss off Weiss Schnee, it meant the day was going to be a good one.

*

And the story takes an unexpected turn, a friend is suddenly gone.

We can cry our lives away, but if they were here, they'd say:

"Go forward. You must keep moving on."

It used to feel like a fairy tale, now it seems we were just pretending, we'd fix our world and on our way to a happy ending. Then it turns out life is far less like a bedtime story, then a tragedy with no big reveal of the hero's glory. And it seems we weren't prepared for a game that wasn't fair. Do we just go home? Can we follow through? When all hope is gone, there is one thing we can do...

“And in recent news, another dust refinery was savagely attacked by the so-called ‘Black Rose Liberation army’. Does the vulgarity of those flea ridden animals know no bounds? The jobs of honest and hardworking humans ruined! Some of their own kind worked there, why ruin their lives too. Here with me today is a key figure in the fight against the terrorism of these creature-”

“YOU HEARING THIS BULLSHIT!” He growled, launching a rock at the television.   
“Hey! I was watching that!”

“Shut it…” Blake sighed. “Did we, or did we not attack that plant?” She said calmly, but forcefully.

“No. I didn’t authorise anything like that, we haven’t even militarised yet. We’re an army only in title” Ilia stated, pulling a knife out of the table and stabbing it back in at a different point.

“So someone is attacking places, and blaming it on us, before we’ve even done anything. You don’t think it's-”

“No, I don’t.” Blake said, anger flaring into her voice.

“You could at least check?” Ilia pushed.

“Oh yeah because he won’t stab me the moment he opens the door.”

“Turn up naked, that’d distract him.” A male voice in the corner chuckled.

“Sun, can it!” Ilia snarled.

“What’s the matter cutie, can’t handle someone teasing your girl~”

Ilia opened her mouth to retort but Blake put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Sun, I thought we agreed you’d be helpful.”

“I am being helpful, my natural charisma has gotten us a speaking point; a Faunus only club in Vale has agreed to give us an hour.”

“Faunus only clubs… when did they start segregating us?”

“They’ve always been segregating us, just now they're doing it openly.”

“Vale is a very anti-faunus place nowadays… Boss, it might do us some good to attend - most of the faunus population might gather there for safety, big crowd to reach.” Someone offered.

“I’d need someone to draft a speech - not you, Sun. I’m not good at this… or public speaking… Why was I made the leader?”

“Cause you’re the strongest one here, you don’t take shit from nobody, and you have experience with humans~”

“Are you referring to my girlfriend?”

“Are you two still dating? Haven’t you not seen each other in a few years now?”

“I… that is unrelated, Sun, please shut up.”   
“Nope!”

Arguing soon broke out between the assembled Faunus and it became the fifth meeting this month to devolve into nonsense - until.

“Commander! Radio, now!” A man said, sprinting into the cabin in a state of panic.

Quickly turning on the radio revealing something awful.

“And reports are coming in that the Black Rose Liberation Army have raised the banner within the compound and are slaughtering every human in sight, that’s right an evacuation order has been given and the Atlas Military is on its way but there is mass panic as… I don’t even know what to say… there… so much blood I-”   
“DIE HUMAN!”

A scream and the sound of a blade cutting through someone and the radio broadcast quickly returned to the station in a panic. It hadn’t made its way to television yet as the attack was in a poor area.

“Where?” Blade quickly jumped to her feet, hand gripped on her black katana.

“SDC refinery in Vale, a huge one.”

“Get a transport in the air now, this isn’t us - we’ve gotta be there to stop this!”

The black painted, stolen, Atlas transport hummed into the air and shot off. Blake sheathed and unsheathed her blade over and over nervously. Glancing each time at the patterns and etchings on the blade, from the roses to the letters. R. W. B. Y.

“Blake.” Sun said, his voice unnaturally tense. “If we do this, appear now, armed and ready. It's likely that the humans will refuse to understand and blame us for the incident.”

“I understand this. But I feel that if I turn up now and denounce the efforts of this group, there’s one woman in all the kingdoms who will believe me.”

“Who?”

“The woman everyone should fear. Weiss Schnee.”

“The villain of the story~” Sang Sun teasingly. “But my point still stands, we should turn back, there’s no reason we can’t publicly denounce them from Menagerie.”

“There is. I want to put out another message too, to the faunus of Atlas, that Menagerie will be their home, if they choose to come with us.

“A recruitment drive?”   
“No, adoption is probably more accurate.”

Where they set down was a warzone. Screams and shouting rang out around them and blood was splattered against every wall and floor. Blake dashed forward and leapt out of the transport before it even landed, blade in hand, drawing it and severing the toros from the legs of a faunus who was assaulting an Atlas Soldier.

“You, pull everyone out. We’ll deal with this.”

“W-Who are you!?”   
“I’m Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY, and this is the real Black Rose Liberation Army.”

“T-The Liberation Army… but there’s only seven of you! There were twenty of us.”

“Relax buddy!” Sun laughed, the soldier screamed.

Sun was a sight to behold, the giant of a man, rippling with muscles, all of which were exposed by his permanently open Jacket. He held his staff in one arm over his shoulder and slapped the soldier on the back, a crack was clearly heard.

“Faunus don’t go down so easily as you’ve noticed.”

“Blake, check this out.” Yatsuhashi beckoned her back to the torso of the faunus who had been attacking the man. Yatsuhashi was one of the smartest men she knew and even though he was only half Faunus so his traits didn’t show as much, plus both sides weren’t too happy with his existence due to his mixed blood, he was an invaluable member of her team. “He seemed to be in a frenzy.”

“Frenzy?”

“From the way his pupils look, and-” He opened his bloodstained mouth and wiped away the blood from his teeth, exposing his sharp canines. “Fangs. Beast types like yourself don’t have fangs most of the year, correct?”

Blake blushed slightly. “Mine only come through during heat.”

“It’s the same for most. But heat is uncomfortable for beasts, so why attack a place like that in such a difficult to manage state? I think something happened to him which triggered this frenzy and activated his more animalistic side, like heats do.”

“We’ll figure why he’s horny out later, we’ve got lives to save.” Ilia addressed, gripping her whip.

They pushed deeper into the facility, the blare of gunfire and the screams only increased the deeper they travelled in. Yatsuhashi had his giant greatsword over his shoulder and charged headfirst, swinging it in a downward arc, causing the blade to extend and wrap around a pole. Pressing a button, the blade tightened and pulled him up onto a higher level, there he effortlessly swung the giant blade, cleaving through two ferals who were tearing apart a body with their fangs. Blake sumersalted into the level with him and performed an elegant dance, the katana moving like silk through the foes. Gunfire blared out as several armed faunus began to fire their weapons on them. Ilia backflipped and Sun sent his pole directly into her body, launching her skyward when she vanished, before landing on top of them, causing the men to cumple.

“Disarm them and contain them. Yatsu, you get these one’s alive. Kill the rest.” Blake ordered.

“Kill? Boss that’s a bit extreme.”

Blake simply pointed at the bloodstained walls and wiped her blade. 

As Sun helped evacuate the injured and Atlas soldiers while the rest of the team focused on eradication.

Such an ugly word. Eradication. Though to be fair, if anyone was allowed to use it, it would be the faunus.

As eradication was the timeless tradition with human treatment for them. Slavery would’ve been better than where they stood now. Oh sure they had rights, but people simply ignored them, and by people - that meant everyone.

There had been one point in her life when she had been untouchable. When she was a member of Team RWBY, at that point people just ignored her ears and respected her skin. Age, sex, species, all meant nothing in the face of skill - but the moment she stopped, all respect they had for her vanished, and she was glad. If they wouldn’t respect her because of her species, she’d prefer it if they said it to her face, then she could kick their ass in return.

As she dragged the blade out from the skull of the last feral, she sighed, looking at the fresh corpse she’d made. Blood pooled over her shoes from the fresh hole in her skull. It was a young girl, maybe fifteen sixteen, a wolf faunus-

She froze. It was… it was… it was Ruby.

The silver eyes were grey and empty, her ears tattered and frayed, her legs… she didn’t even want to look at them.

“Is… Is it dead?”

Yang punched a hole through the wall.

“It… got away… I… I don’t know what happened, it just vanished!”

“There’s… there’s nothing you could’ve done…” Blake said softly, reaching out for Yang’s arm gently.

The blonde spun on her, her hair glowing and her eyes red. Tears streaming down her face. “DON’T FUCKING SAY THAT! THERE’S SO MANY THINGS I COULD’VE DONE!”

“P… Please…” A weak voice, fragile like nearly shattered glass, whimpered out.

They all turned, it was Ruby, she hadn’t moved from her position, but her heart rate had spiked.

“P...Please…. For…. forgive… me….”

Yang sobbed and hugged what was left of her sister. Weiss trembled and Jaune looked away.

“You’ve not done anything wrong, you were great! You saved so many people, people who are safe now! You didn’t fail, you protected them, and… and now I’ll protect you. From everything! I promise!” Yang sobbed, trying her best to get Ruby to look at her.

The heart monitor began to slow down until it flatlined. Yang screamed, medics rushed in and shoved all of them out of the room. Tearing open the tatted remains of her uniform to attempt to resuscitate the half-faunus.

Blake trembled and hugged Yang, both girls sobbing. Jaune had tears streaming down his face. Weiss was silent, simply staring, not an emotion on her face. Didn’t she feel anything?!

Sun shook her shoulder, snapping her back to reality. The wolf faunus girl was still at her feet, but not Ruby Rose.

“Blake… I-”

He was cut off as she flung her arms around him and sobbed into his chest. He growled as he saw the body.

“Just a kid… what the fuck is going on…?”

“I… I saw… I…”

“Ruby?”

She nodded and whimpered. Ilia approached slowly and hugged her too, wiping away her tears.

“Hey, it’s not her okay? You didn’t do anything wrong, it's up to us to figure out what happened to these faunus.” She said softly. She knew how much the wolf-pup meant to her. The few times she’d met the halfbreed she could tell how easy it was to get attached to her. New year on the beach… a simpler time.

As the trio left the facility, they were swarmed, reporters and security droids rushing over to them. A couple of her soldiers drew their weapons in defence and several Atlas guardsmen pushed the reporters back.

“Why has the Liberation Army attacked?”

“What was the purpose of your attack?”   
“Was this brutality needed, you filthy animal?”

“SILENCE!” Roared Sun, he could sound quite commanding if he needed to. He slammed his staff into the ground, sending out sparks.

Blake wiped the last of her tears and found a slightly elevated point to stand, finding a couple of strong boxes.

“Tell me how many Faunus do you see here? I see seven. Seven people. If you couldn’t see our traits, our ears, tails, eyes, you’d think we’re just ordinary humans. So what I don’t understand is why you choose to see them. We’re just the same as you, and that is the purpose of the Liberation Army. We provide liberation for our kind, and we know the only way for you to acknowledge us is for us to seem like a threat - hence our army title. The seven faunus here are the entire army. Not much of a threat. We did not commit the atrocity at this facility or any of the other attacks, we’ve not even put any plans into writing yet, I’ll state that these attacks are being orchestrated by another group. We came to clear our name and save lives, which has been achieved.”   
“It’s true!” One of the soldiers said, rushing forward. “I saw them arrive and they saved all of the survivors, we were useless against them, but this group wasn’t.”

“We don’t want a war, we just want equality, true equality with humans, both in rights and station and thought. But humans will only acknowledge a threat. So we’ll become one. Faunus of Atlas, of Vale, or Mistral, all faunus over the world; leave your homes, your jobs, and come to Menagerie, a true home for all of our kind - there is plenty of room, here you’ll have a safe place to live, raise kids, and learn the true history of our species! Furthermore! The land of Menagerie today formally separates from the pre established kingdoms, The Faunus Kingdom of Menagerie begins, and will do everything we can to make you see the truth. We aren’t animals, we’re people! Starting next week, we’ll land a transport in every major city in each kingdom, and any one who wishes to come home you can.”

“You can’t do that!” Someone yelled.

“Why not?”   
“Their ours!!”

“No. They are not. You don’t own them or any of your other workers and they have a choice, just like the rest of you. You can choose to give into our demands - or say goodbye to all the money you’ve made on the blood and sweat of poor Faunus. Oh and this offer applies to half-faunus and less, no matter how much human you might think you are, there’s still Faunus, making you our kind.”

And with that, she left, walking back to the transport, alongside her seven commanders.

This was gonna be fun.


End file.
